Lift in Samoens opens for Summer

It is a strange feeling to look out the window and see the Grand Massif Express lift working in the summertime. For the first time ever, it has been opened in the summer. This is really good news for Samoens, and saves bikers, hikers and paragliders plenty of time by taking them up to the place where they can explore and "jump off ". The price is only 5 euro and if you have a season pass for the winter, it will only cost you 2.50 euro for a round trip. There are 4 restaurants that have opened up at the top, so if you fancy just going for lunch! We have yet to go and test it out - especially the downhill cycle back home.

Mountain Biking Samoens

Lac Gers is one of our favourite place and this year we decided that we would try to cycle up there, having hiked, skied and driven up, it was now time to cycle. We left home near Vercland, and headed towards the hamlet of La Combe, crossing over to the main road and then to the car park before the ascend to Lac Gers. It was not an easy one as our bikes kept slipping on the rocks, but once we got going, it was magnificent. Reaching Lac Gers, we were surprised at how many people were up there having lunch, as it had only opened for the season the day before.

Stephan and Laurence are the lovely couple who run the restaurant, gave us their usual friendly welcome and we had a wonderful relaxing lunch. We felt tempted to even stay the night, as the thought of going down the hill with all the rocks was a little scary for me.

Lac Gers is a wonderful place set in a valley overlooking a peaceful lake. The local cuisine is delicious every time and very reasonable. Their website is not yet complete....but should be so soon ( www.gitedegers.com ). You can sleep the night in very comfortable rooms ( 55 euro, dinner - bed and breakfast ! ), a real bargain! It is such a pleasure to wake to the peaceful surroundings.

The cycle downhill was not as bad as I thought, and we were home for tea! Now we cannot wait to spend a night up there, with the family.

Cycling Col Joux Plane...training has begun

Samoens has the famous Col Joux Plane, which has been tackled by many cyclists, novices and pros such as those riding the Tour de France! It is a killer 12 km climb, which is classified 'beyond category' for the Tour de France. We would love to one day make it all the way to the top, so today we wiped the spider webs off our bikes and did a nice Sunday ride, tackling only 3km of the 12km. We made our way to the Chapel of Mathonex, which is slightly off the Col, with our croissant that we picked up along the way at the heavenly Tiffany's bakery in Samoens. We did not break for too long, as it was time to get back on the bikes as we had a fairly long way back home and up yet another hill to our house....in Vercland. Cycling in the Alps is either up up up or down down down....nothing is flat!

This year the Tour de France will not come via Samoens, but will come close and there will also be the time trials in the beautiful village of Annecy, which is only 1 hour away. For details on the tour, go to www.massifescape.com/tour-de-france.html

Building in France

Learning what you can and cannot do is a very interesting exercise here in France. We would like to add a little something to our place, and found out that the land the house is on is classified NC ( non-constructible ). This means that it is agricultural land. To find out exactly what you can do, we headed to the local Mairie ( like the town council )- every village has one of these. It brought back many memories from all our meetings we had to get married in Samoens last summer. At our meeting, we were able to view our property on a great website www.geoportail-des-savoie.org and could see exactly the boundaries and what classification it was. We were told that we cannot build anything separate to the house for habitation, what we can build is an extension of 20% of our habitable space. Back to the drawing board! It is vital to always check every detail before planning to build anything in France.

Next steps are for our local friend and developer will come round to the house to see what we can do, and then start the long process of planning & approvals.

Yoga in Samoens

We have recently discovered yoga here in Samoens. A lovely lady called Saskia offers yoga to locals on a Friday morning at 9am - 10.30am in a very beautiful dojo. When it is slightly chilly, we have the wood burning fire going, which is heavenly. On Tuesday mornings another wonderful yoga instructor, Michelle, also offers classes in the same place. It is a real treat to discover this on our door step.

Ski season is over!

Yesterday was officially the last day of this ski season for Samoens. It was a great day to ski, as we made it onto the 9am lift and headed across to Flaine for our last ski of the season. The slopes were so empty, at times we did not see anyone for miles. When we arrived at Flaine, they had a few competitions on for the young skiers who ski like demons. It is truly amazing to watch them do the slalom racing down the mountain. There were clubs from everywhere gathered in Flaine, from Les Gets, Cluses, St Jean D'Aulps etc.... The snow was really good and there is more snow coming this week. Flaine only closes on Sunday 26th April, so one more week.


Today there are no gondolas to be seen in Samoens, and the village has started to shut down for the very quiet season coming up, as the locals rest from the hectic non-stop season and get ready for the summer season.

Running in Samoens

One of the things that I miss the most during the winter months, are my runs along the Giffre river. There is a wonderful path which runs from the Grand Massif Express gondola all the way to Sixt and also in the other direction to Morillon. Today was my first run in a long time, I parked at the gondola, and I ran towards Sixt, making it only to the Pont de Reve ( 'bridge of dreams' ) and back - 30mins. The path is off-road and runs along next to the river, which is pumping at the moment, as the snow is melting rapidly. I saw children and a few runners, even a lady running with a pram, as there are 2 paths, one wider than the other - perfect for moms with prams.

It was a perfect afternoon, 20 degrees, the sun was shining and all the birds were very excited that it is finally spring. I saw a lovely woodpecker and many spring flowers. On my return home, I found Rob working on our vegetable patch - we cannot wait to grow and eat our own vegetables this summer. One of our guests, who is an avid gardener, kindly sent us some pumpkin seeds which we are very keen to try out.